Oct. 19, 1942 - Dear Audrey

Jan Palson

19 Oct 2026 — 4 min read

When you enlist vs getting drafted, you can choose which branch of service to serve. support: Newspapers.com

Whose girl are you tonight?

Well, they got the trailer!! On their terms too. She's got a new suit. I think it's his suit she has had tailored. Keep fingers crossed for that pass on the 27th. In the meantime, he's back on guard duty.

Original Letter

Transcript follows.

Transcript

For some context, War Updates follow the transcript. It includes the front pages of The Daily Evening Item from Lynn, Massachusetts (local to Fort Ruckman) and Mom's local Connecticut paper the Hartford Courant for additional news, plus the Women's Page so you're up on the latest recipes and styles, especially hats!

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October 19, 1942

Bat H - 9^th C.A., Fort Ruckman

Dear Audrey:

I got a dinky little letter from you today. So you have your suit. Is it too late for me to change my mind? In a way I feel like a Indian giver because I told the old man he could have the suit and then you took it. I don’t mean you actually took it because I wanted you to have it but I had asked him a couple of times why he didn’t wear it. I don’t think he ever would have worn it except on some special occasion but I never should have promised him the suit. I’ll like it better on you than on him. I’m interested to see what they have done to the pants. What happened to the zipper? If you had Sat off last week and Friday this week you will have Thurs. off the following week and then if I get a three-day pass the 27^th we will have that Thurs. off together. That is if I haven’t’ messed things by taking that pass Sat. night and it is very possible that I have. The more I think of it the more foolish it seems. I could have got along without that night out but I took a chance in spoiling my pass the 27^th. Well I’ll find out tomorrow or the next day and I’ll let you know. I’ll have to do a little fibbing and finagling to get it. I got a letter from Al today and he will sell us the trailor at our price or rather at our plan. We will pay him 300 now and the balance by Jan. 1. Without looking it up I think the balance will be around $67.00 and we will be able to meet that all right, won’t we? But of course, the payments start around the 1^st of Nov. and that means $38.12.

How do you feel lately? Is this new responsibility going to be too much for you – for the head of the family. We are stuck with the trailor now and it’s too late to back out now even if we want to. And we don’t want to do we? Say I’m asking a lot of questions tonight. If nothing else, it will be a good investment. The only qualms I have will be when you are six or seven months along and you know better how you will feel than I do. I will worry about you where ever you are. Say I had a thought last night. Why can’t I fix some of these lads up when they go out on pass. The ones I have in mind are a pretty good sort and have a hard time finding something to do when they go to Boston. You must know quite a few girls in town and I thought of Margaret Nylander. She should prove interesting company for this lad I have in mind. Send me the dope and I’ll fix them up. If Margaret has a phone number send it and I’ll call her up. All these fellows do is bang around and get into trouble like this other fellow did who caught the venereal disease and maybe we can fix them up. They have me on a weeks guard starting this noon and so it is one grind after another. As I said before, there are some strange things that happen to me down there. Maybe after a couple of days, I’ll have something to write about. In the meantime, this letter will suffice. Whose girl are you tonight? For the past three or four weeks I’ve been playing with the idea of your coming up here to live. It seems to persist with me. We will chew this over when I see you. For tonight I love my wife very much. Lots of love - - Leonard

War Updates

The Lynn Daily Evening Item

Lynn already has a curfew on liquor, now they want to ban Sunday football. Alerts at noon will start this week so residents get accustomed to the sound. At least the price of playing pool stays the same.

Meanwhile in Hartford...

Small article at bottom left regarding Italians. Germans and Japanese are still restricted but the Italians are free. Scrap drive continues to collect record amounts.